The present invention relates to a window opener, and more particularly, to a window opener for a remote open-and-close operation of a rear window (a quater window) of a two-door sedan or the like.
There has hitherto been known a window opener disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 42252/1984.
As shown in FIG. 9, the known window opener comprises a push-pull cable 51 and a rigid arc-shaped rod 52 having an end connected to the cable and another end connected to a window glass pane 53. The rigid rod 52 is slidably moved through a guide pipe 54 curved in the same curvature as that of the rigid rod 52. The cable 51 is pushed and pulled by means of a manual or powered driving device. For example, there is known a manual device shown in FIG. 10 comprising a handle 55, a pinion 56 fixed to the handle 55, a sector gear 57 meshing with the pinion 56 and an arm 58 fixed to the sector gear 57. In the manual device, a rotation of the handle 55 causes a rotation of the pinion 56 and a swing movement of the sector gear 57 to push and pull the cable 51 through the arm 58. The numeral 59 denotes a conduit for guiding the slide movement of the cable 51, and the combined conduit 59 and cable 51 constitute a push-pull control cable for transmitting the push-pull operation from the driving device to the window side. Further, the numerals 60 and 61 denote an inside panel and an outside panel of an automotive body, respectively.
In the conventional window opener, when the cable 51 is pushed, the window glass 53 is also pushed to open, and on the other hand, when the cable 51 is pulled, the window glass 53 is closed.
However, the conventional window opener has a disadvantage that a cabin space becomes narrower since the arc-shaped guide pipe 54 protrudes toward the inside of the cabin.
Further, the push-pull cable 51 which enables the window glass pane 53 to open has a relatively rigid core cable in order to resist a compression force, and therefore, the cable 51 has relatively low flexibility. Accordingly, the freedom or range of choice for design of cable-arrangement is very narrow, since the radius of curvature of the cable cannot be made small when the cable 51 is arranged on the automotive body.
The object of the present invention is to provide a window opener having no projection protruding in the cabin space and having wide range of choice for design of the cable-arrangement.